Poll: Romney, Gingrich Tied in Florida

New poll finds that Gingrich and Romney are tied, days before the Florida primary.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 1/26/2012, 4:12 AM

A new poll published on Wednesday shows that Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are tied in Florida.

The CNN/Time/ORC International Poll also indicates that while Gingrich surged following his 12-point victory in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, his momentum appears to be quickly cooling off.

The poll found that 36 percent of people likely to vote in Tuesday's Republican primary in Florida say they are backing Romney as the party’s nominee, with 34 percent supporting Gingrich.

The poll’s results also indicate that former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania is at 11 percent and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is at nine percent. Seven percent of respondents said they are unsure.

The poll’s Wednesday release comes one day before a CNN-Republican Party of Florida presidential debate at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Thursday’s debate will be the last time the candidates will face off on the same stage before Tuesday’s primary.

On Sunday, the day after Gingrich surprised and won South Carolina, he was at 38 percent in Florida, with Romney at 36 percent, Santorum at 11 percent and Paul at eight percent.

The poll also found that a gender gap appears to have developed as well. In South Carolina, Gingrich won among men and women, whereas in Florida, although Gingrich has an edge among men, Romney had the advantage among women.

The CNN/Time poll was conducted by ORC International from January 22 to 24, with 369 likely Florida GOP primary voters questioned by telephone.